A Roommate
by AWayToPenThings
Summary: When Sadie's mother decides to move away from Beach City, Sadie can't bring herself to leave. Now she has to find a new place to live, though it proves to be a difficult journey that tests some friendships.
1. Chapter 1: Moving

A Roommate

Chapter 1: Moving

Sadie knew there was something wrong when she came home from work to find her mother still awake, sitting at the kitchen table mindlessly rearranging cookies on a plate.

"Wow, what are you still doing up? Don't you have work early tomorrow?" Sadie hung her purse up on the hook by the door, then sat down at the table.

"No. I mean, I have work in the morning," said her mother. "I just can't get to sleep yet. I have a lot of things to think over."

"What's wrong?"

"Sadie... I was offered a promotion today."

"That's great, Mom!" Sadie smiled but quickly noticed her mother was still chewing on her lip and pushing cookies around on the plate. "So what's wrong? What's wrong with a promotion?"

Her mother got up from the table and began to make two cups of coffee. That was a sure sign that they were going to have some kind of "talk", Sadie thought. With her mother, serious conversations always called for a cup of coffee and some kind of treat. It looked like this time it was cookies.

"The job's in Riverville. We'd have to move," her mother said. "Well, I'd have to move, but I think you'll want to come with me. There's a college nearby. You could live with me while you go for a degree, save some money."

Sadie stayed quiet for a few moments, not knowing what to say. She couldn't leave Beach City. She couldn't leave her home. How could her mother even think about moving for a job? They had a nice home and friends here. How could she think that she would ever consider moving out of town? But where would she live if she stayed here?

"Sadie, I'd like to take the job," her mother said in almost a whisper, interrupting her thoughts. "There's no room for advancement in this town. If I want a better job, I have to leave. You of all people should know there isn't any real office work here. I mean, you've been at that donut place for almost three years now, and have you been promoted to manager or found anywhere else to work?"

"Maybe I like Big Donut. Maybe I haven't looked for anything else."

"You know you can't work at Big Donut forever. You've been out of school for two years, haven't gone to college, have no way of earning a living except by donuts?"

Sadie hadn't touched her coffee or eaten any of the cookies. She pushed her chair back, stood up and began to walk off to her bedroom. "I can't leave. I can't leave now." She hadn't realized that she had started crying but suddenly found herself wiping tears from her cheeks. "It's almost summer. The summer rush will be here soon, and how will they run the donut shop without me?"

"Honey, they'll find someone else."

"I don't want them to find someone else! I just want to stay here with my friends, okay?"

Her mother got up and gently rubbed Sadie's arm. "Is that what this is about? Riverville is only two hours away. You could visit." She paused. "Besides, everyone eventually leaves their hometown and their school friends. You'll make new friends at college."

It made sense, Sadie knew. She'd make better money somewhere else. Normal people eventually move away from their parents, get real jobs or go to college, get their own places to live. At 20, Sadie was still living with her mother, working at Big Donut with no tangible plans of leaving soon.

On the other hand, the more emotional hand, it just didn't feel right. Beach City was a special place. There was something strange and beautiful about it, and it felt like home. Because it was home. Sadie's friends were here too, and she couldn't imagine uprooting herself and leaving them here. Her life was here in Beach City.

"I'll let you think about it," her mother said. "If I'm moving for this job, though, I need to sell the house. We need to pack up."

Sadie didn't say anything.

"If you want, Sadie, you could pack all of your things separately. Just in case," said her mother. "I know it's hard to leave, but I think we'll both have more opportunities elsewhere."

"Okay."

"'Okay' as in you'll come with me?"

"'Okay' as in I'll think about it. And I'll pack my things separately in case... you know, in case I find somewhere to live. Here."

Her mother looked at her sadly but nodded. "I'm glad you're at least thinking about it. You know that I just want the best for us, right?"

"I know, Mom. Goodnight."


	2. Chapter 2: A Little Lie

A Roommate

Chapter 2: A Little Lie

Sadie couldn't sleep at all that night. Her mind raced, trying to think about what it would be like to no longer live in her childhood home, for her mother to leave and for her to stay in Beach City, or the possibility of both of them leaving for somewhere entirely new.

She knew that she couldn't really leave Beach City. Even though it wasn't the perfect place to live, it was home to her, and it was where she wanted to be.

She had never thought about where else she might live besides her mother's house. Well, of course, she _had_ thought about eventually moving out and buying her own home and settling down and having kids and having a life here in Beach City, but she had never truly looked into houses or apartments. She wasn't even sure how much a house would cost or how much it would be to rent an apartment here.

A quick search on her laptop told Sadie that a house would cost more than she imagined, and just the down payment was much more than she had saved up in her nearly three years at Big Donut. Another search pulled up information about apartments.

The ads for apartments all seemed to say nearly the same thing. After quoting the actual rent price, they all listed requirements. "No pets. No smoking. First month and last month's rent due before move in. Security deposit also. Sewage included but must pay all other utilities."

Once she calculated all of the costs of renting, the apartments were still out of her price range, but not by much. If she could convince her mother to loan her some money for the first few month's rent, she might be able to afford it.

* * *

The next morning, Sadie woke up before her mother and waited in the kitchen.

"Up so early?" her mother asked as she passed through the kitchen to grab something quick to eat before work.

"I... I couldn't stay asleep."

"I didn't get a lot of sleep either." Sadie's mother paused and looked carefully but kindly at her daughter's face. "Sadie, I know you don't want to move. I wish you'd come with me, but I won't force you to."

"Thanks," said Sadie. "Hey, as long as we're wishing, I wish you weren't moving at all."

"I know. But you know why I'm doing this, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Opportunities."

Her mother sighed. "Well, maybe this is an opportunity for us both."

"Mom, please don't. I thought you just said you knew I don't want to go."

"No, I mean... Sadie, you're old enough that maybe you should be off on your own now. Maybe this is a sign that you're ready to do your own thing. If that means staying in Beach City, then... okay."

Sadie sensed an opening. "I'm glad you understand. You know, I thought maybe I could get an apartment here, keep working at the Big Donut and maybe go to community college on the side, get a degree in business management."

Her mother waited, eyebrows raised, knowing that there was more. "And?"

"And I looked up some prices for an apartment, but... I think I might need to save up some money. Or borrow it."

Her mother frowned. "You know I'm taking this promotion because we're not making enough money here, right? Sadie, I don't know if we have any extra to spare! In fact, I know we don't." She shook her head. "Listen, here's a plan. You come with me, save up your money for a few months, then move out when you're ready."

Sadie was afraid of that. She was afraid if she left Beach City, she might never actually move back. Months would quickly turn to a whole year or multiple years. Her friends would be sad to see her go, but they'd move on and continue having adventures, and who knows if they would even still be friends if she came back? Big Donut would have to hire someone new, and Lars... well, Lars would be working with someone else all day long, making jokes and picking on each others and going places...

She had to think of something, any excuse to stay.

"Oh. Oh!" Sadie laughed, maybe a little too hard. "Oh, you thought I wanted to borrow money from you? Actually... um, actually, I already sort of have a plan. I'm going to stay with friends here, just for a little while until I can afford the apartment."

"Oh?' Her mother studied her closely. "Which friend? When did you decide all this?"

"Uh... the Crystal Gems! I called them last night when I couldn't sleep, and they said I could stay with them for a little while, maybe help out with some Gem stuff."

"Really? I didn't know that you and those girls were that close."

"Oh, yeah! The closest! You know how Amethyst and I are always hanging out."

"Amethyst...?" her mother pondered. "I don't remember you spending much time with any of them. Amethyst is the short one, right?"

"Yep, the short one. That's why she get along so well. Both short." Sadie chuckled nervously. "In fact, I was planning on visiting her before I head to the Big Donut today!" Sadie pulled on her shoes, heading for the door. "I should head there right now. But, yep, that's the plan."

"Sadie, I don't know if..."

"Bye, Mom! Going to hang out with my best friend Amethyst!"

* * *

"Hey, Donut Girl, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be making donuts or something?" Amethyst asked, then leaned her head back to shout to the other members of the household. "Guys, Donut Girl is here for some reason!"

"Uh... my name's Sadie."

"Sadie, Donut Girl, same thing."

Pearl poked her nose around the doorway. "Oh, look who it is! Eh, Sally, right?" Before Sadie could correct her, she gasped. "What did Steven do? Did he ruin the Large Donut?"

"It's actually not call-"

Garnet appeared in the doorway. "It's unlikely that Steven ruined Large Donut. He hasn't come down the stairs yet. It's unlikely, though not impossible, that he damaged the shop from there."

Steven's footsteps came down the stairs inside the house."I heard my name!" He squeezed his way past the three other Gems to the front of the doorway. "SADIE! Why are you here? Where's my BFF Lars?"

"Uh... I had to come over to ask a favor that maybe you guys could help out with."

Steven beamed. "I thought you would never ask. Of course I'll come back to work at Big Donut with you."

"No, actually... a little bigger than that. My mother is moving to another town and I want to stay in Beach City." Sadie took a deep breath. "So I need somewhere to stay, just until I can afford the first few months rent for an apartment."

"Yes!" Steven was shouting, as the other Gems were shaking their heads no.

"Absolutely not," said Garnet. "This is the Crystal Temple, not a halfway house. It is much too dangerous for humans."

"My dad stayed here!" Steven disagreed.

"And we all saw how that turned out," said Pearl.

"I thought you lived at the Donut House with Donut Guy anyway?" Amethyst said, not waiting for Sadie to correct her. "Anyway, we don't have enough room here. I need room for... you know, my stuff."

Steven gazed sadly back and forth from Sadie to the rest of the Gems. "Are you guys sure?"

"Yes."

Steven turned to Sadie. "Well, I tried the sad eyes, and it's still not working."

Sadie turned red. "You know, forget I even said anything. I'll figure something out. Sorry to be an inconvenience." She gave a small wave and started walking down to the Big Donut.

"Why doesn't she just live in a van like Greg and keep all of her belongings in those storage units?" Pearl asked the Gems as they watched Sadie leave. "Isn't that what most humans do?"

Sadie heard Pearl's question as she continued to walk down the temple's front stairs, and it made her think. A van was out of the question, but there were other less-than-ideal living arrangements that could work... at least temporarily.


	3. Chapter 3: Donuts and Secrets

A Roommate

Chapter 3: Donuts and Secrets

As Sadie walked from the Crystal Temple to Big Donut to start the day, she heard her phone buzz in her pocket. A text from Lars. _where r u? had to open by myself jerk_

Another text popped up a second later, also from Lars. _u alright? ur never late_

Shoot. She hadn't realized that she was running behind schedule. Talking to the Gems had taken longer than she thought, and all of the mess of learning her mother would be moving and trying to figure out a way to stay in Beach City had completely taken over her brain. She switched from a steady walk to a quick jog. She couldn't remember the last time she was late for work. It was a good thing that Lars had been on time for once. She checked the time. 9:23. Well, maybe Lars hadn't been right on time, but he had still made it before her.

As she ran to the donut shop, her mind couldn't help but go over her options for living arrangements again. Her mother was leaving for sure, and the house would be sold soon after. Her mother thought she'd be living with the Crystal Gems, but that plan had been shot down. Steven and the Crystal Gems were really her only friends here in Beach City... well, that and Lars.

She couldn't live with Lars... could she? Of course not. No. Maybe. No. Almost a year ago, she would have loved the thought of it. Being on the island with him had been amazing, and he seemed like a different person there. He would never agree to it though, and she was embarrassed even thinking about bringing it up. Besides, he still lived with his parents. Asking to sleep on the couch at the Crystal Temple was one thing, but sleeping in the same house with Lars and his parents was another thing entirely. Sure, she was pretty sure that they both liked each other, but how would it be to live with someone before you even were dating?

She mulled over the plan that had come to her immediately after the Crystal Gems told her she couldn't stay with them. What if she just moved her belongings into a storage unit and just slept there for now?

It wouldn't be that terrible, she told herself as she jogged her way to Big Donut, and it would would only be until she could save up enough money to start renting an apartment. No one would have to know, and it would be much less awkward than asking Lars. It wasn't ideal, and she'd ave to find a way to shower and dress each morning, but it would only be for just a little while.

Her thoughts were cut short as she arrived at Big Donut within a few minutes, bursting through the door while still huffing and puffing from the run. "Sorry... I'm... late."

"About time," Lars said from his place at the counter. "You look terrible."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Thanks." She couldn't disagree though. The rush to get here had left her winded and red in the face, and the lack of sleep last night meant she had droopy dark circles below her eyes. She didn't just look terrible but, worse yet, felt terrible.

"I, uh... didn't mean it like that," Lars backtracked awkwardly. "I mean... what's wrong?"

She thought about telling him everything right then, but she was so tired and couldn't think of what to say without making it seem like she was desperate for a place to live (which, she supposed, she was). She gave Lars a small smile that felt very, very fake. "It's okay. I'm just tired is all." She would tell him later, she promised herself. She would tell him after she had had time to think things over more.

The bells on the door rang then, alerting Lars and Sadie that someone had come through the door, making them both jump a little. It was Steven, of course.

"Steven," Sadie said, a little surprised. "You must have left right after I did."

"What?" said Lars. "Where were you? With Steven?"

"I run pretty fast," Steven boasted. He turned to Lars. "Yeah, didn't you know? Sadie came to the temple to ask if she could move in with us, but Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl said no."

Lars looked shocked, which was an unusual switch from his generally uninterested demeanor. "Why would you move in with Steven?"

"Uh..." was all Sadie could think to say before Steven continued the story for her.

"Her mom's moving, but she wants to stay here with us," he said. "Sadie, Pearl says you're going to live in a van like my dad. Are you? Because that's pretty cool. There's a parking space right next where he parks his van next to the car wash. I didn't even know you _had_ a van!"

"I'm not living in a van," Sadie said. "I've got a plan. Everything's okay."

The two boys were staying quiet for once, strangely enough, and Sadie realized that they were both waiting for her to continue and tell them where she _was_ going to live. She couldn't stand to tell them the truth: that she didn't know but that her best option at this point was to live in a storage unit, which frankly was just as bad as a van. It was time for another lie.

"Everything's okay," she repeated. "It turns out I have enough money for an apartment."

"But you said this morning that you would need a month or two to save up enough," Steven said.

"No, everything's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Lars kept looking at her, studying her face in the same way that her mother had just this morning. He wasn't always the most caring person, but they had been friends for a while. She knew he knew that she was lying.

"Okay," Steven said, unsure. His mind switched tracks. "I need two chocolate glazed, a croissant, one dog-nut and one nut-dog."

"Uhhhh..." Lars looked over at the donut case. "I guess I didn't put the donuts out this morning. It'll be a while."

This was going to be a very long day.


	4. Chapter 4: Packed Up

A Roommate

Chapter 4: Packed Up

The next few days went by in a blur for Sadie. It was a lot of packing. Sometimes she packed her belongings into cardboard boxes while sitting in her room, carefully wrapping each item while thinking about how she had gotten herself into this mess and how much money she would still have to save up before having enough to start renting any of the Beach City apartments that we available. Sometimes she would sit with her mother in the living room or kitchen and help her pack the things that would go to her mother's new house in Riverville. They would smile and share stories about the items as they wrapped them up in old newspaper and gently tucked them into boxes.

"This toaster must be at least 17 or 18 years old. Maybe I should get a new one, but this one has so many good memories, don't you think? Remember when you were little how you were so scared of the toast popping up?"

"Why do we have so many remotes? What does this even go to?"

"Look, it's the little book you wrote when you were in elementary school. 'The Cat Who Ate Everybody's Shoes.' You were certainly creative."

Other times they packed in silence. Sadie would look over at her mother every so often and was worried but unsurprised to see that her eyes were red and wet.

The house had quickly received an offer from a buyer, and Sadie and her mother has promised to turn over the keys by the next week. Sadie had hoped that it would take longer to find a buyer for the house so that maybe she could just stay there until she had enough money to move out, but there was no such luck. Either way, her mother was starting the new job in a few days and would have to be moved out anyway.

Soon the entire house was packed up. Sadie's mother had hired a moving company to help load the many boxes into a truck, take them to Riverville and unload them into the new house.

"It looks like there's still some room in the truck," Sadie's mother told her. "Are you sure you don't want to just load your boxes in there and come with me?"

"I'm sure. The Gems are going to help me with these boxes anyway," said Sadie. It wasn't entirely a lie, but she was leaving out the fact that they would be helping her move them into a storage unit instead of into their temple.

"Alright." Her mother pushed Sadie's hair back from her forehead and gently kissed it. "It's hard to leave you here."

Together, they went around to each of the rooms, touching the walls and the doors and whispering silly but sad goodbyes to the home they had shared in Beach City. They moved the last of Sadie's boxes onto the front porch, then they finally locked up the doors to the house.

Her mother lingered on the porch. "I guess I should get going."

"The movers look ready to head out," Sadie said. "You should probably lead the way so they don't get lost."

"Right." Sadie's mother gave her a tight hug, almost as though she was pressing her daughter into clay and making an imprint to keep. "I'll be back in less than a week, but I'll call you whenever the movers get done."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you more."

Her mother got into the car and pulled out from the driveway, with the moving truck soon following behind her. Both Sadie and her mother both waved to each other for longer than either of them needed to and kept waving even after they were out of eyeshot.

Sadie sat sadly on the porch with her boxes, looking down the road even though both her mother's car and the moving truck were out of sight.

She sent a text to Steven. _I'm on the porch with my stuff whenever you guys are ready to help me move the stuff into the unit. Thanks!_

A text buzzed onto her phone immediately after, though Sadie was confused when she saw it wasn't from Steven. It was from Lars.

_saw ur mom and a moving truck. does this mean u didnt leave?_

_Yeah I told you I was staying._

_i no just checking_

_What, you worried or something? : - P_

_nah_

Sadie was about to send back a snide remark of some sort, but Lars sent another text immediately after his last one.

_im glad u stayed_


	5. Chapter 5: A Hard Day's Night

A Roommate

Chapter 5: A Hard Day's Night

With the help from the Crystal Gems, it took only a few minutes to move all of Sadie's belongings into a storage unit. She was lucky there had been one available to rent and that the cost to rent out a storage unit was almost nothing.

After the Gems left, she rearranged the things a little bit, trying to make it look more like home. When they had moved her bed into the storage unit, they had stacked boxes on top of the bed frame and the mattress. Sadie moved the boxes to the floor, then found where which box contained the pillows and bed sheets and made the bed. At least it was something. It could be worse. She could be living in a van, right?

* * *

"Took you long enough," Lars said as Sadie stepped through the door.

She hadn't rushed to get to work this time. She had warned Lars that she'd be late and that he'd have to open by himself. Although it worried her to let him run the store by himself for a few hours, she had needed that time to relax after a busy morning. After all, she had watched her mother leave for a different town and then had prepared herself for sleeping in, of all places, a storage unit for the next month or so.

"Sorry, did my family moving away ruin your morning?" she shot back sarcastically, maybe with a little more bite than usual.

Lars opened his mouth to say shoot something back but thought better of it. "Anyway, you're here now."

"Yep."

"I remembered to fill the donut case this time."

Sadie looked around and noticed that the shop actually did look pretty presentable. "Looks good."

"'Looks good'? That's it? That took me like an hour!"

Sadie wasn't going to mention that it usually only took her about ten minutes to stock the donuts in the morning. She gave a little smile. "No, it looks great. Thanks for opening up without me again." She plopped down in one of the seats at the customer tables. "I'm just tired is all."

There was a short silence as Lars' face contorted as if he was wrestling with a difficult decision. "You know, it's pretty slow today," he said finally. "You could sleep on the napkins in the back until it gets busy in here."

Though she was surprised, Sadie wasn't going to wait for Lars to retract his offer. "Thanks!" she called as she pushed through the break room door. She could use a nap.

* * *

Sadie awoke to the sound of dishes clattering in the sink and then the soft squeak of someone cleaning the fingerprints off of the display cases. She sat up groggily from her makeshift bed of extra napkins in the back room of the Big Donut. Checking her watch, she realized it was almost 8:30.

"I don't think you can still call it a 'nap' after like four hours. And it's been seven hours," Lars told her as she came out of the back room. He checked the clock. "Seven and a half."

Sadie blinked a few times, still trying to wake up entirely. "Sorry. I was pretty tired."

"Yeah."

She looked around the store, hoping that notice had burnt down in her absence, and everything actually seemed to be okay. Sure, it was still a little messier than she would have liked it to be at 8:30, but the store looked good considering that it had just been one person running it throughout the day. Especially since that person had been Lars.

"It looks... good!" she told him.

"Yeah." He acted casual as he said it, but Sadie could see a small smile across his lips.

"You didn't have anybody's help at all? Even I had Steven help out when you left me here alone."

Lars raised his eyebrows. "It's a lot easier to get everything done when you're not trying to poison anyone with fire salt," he said. "Plus, it was pretty slow, I guess."

"Well, thanks."

She began to help him do the rest of the evening tasks, starting with clearing out the last of the donuts from the case. There were several donuts that hadn't sold, so she divided them into three bags to take home at the end of the night: one of herself, one for Lars and one to leave at Steven's doorstep as a surprise. Technically they weren't supposed to give out any free end-of-the-night donuts to anyone except for employees, but she usually made an exception with Steven. He was an honorary employee, she told herself.

She felt a buzz in her pocket. Who would be texting her? When she pulled out her phone, she found that it wasn't a text message at all. LOW BATTERY, the screen said.

"Shoot!" She rushed to find the charger that she had brought in her purse, then plugged it into the nearest wall. "I meant to charge this here."

"What, you don't have electricity at the new apartment?" Lars eyed her suspiciously.

"Uh... yeah. I mean, no. Yeah, there's no electricity yet. I have to call and set it up and... yeah."

"Yeah."

Sadie continued to clean, but Lars had stopped. He sat down at the front counter and halfheartedly pretended to wipe something up. He stared at her in the way he did sometimes when he was trying to be annoying, and Sadie tried to ignore him.

"So what's the new apartment like?" he asked her. "You never told me exactly where it was."

"Oh, you know, it's kind of close to the car wash," she said quickly. "On that side of town."

"I didn't know there were apartments there. The only ones I know of are closer to where I live."

"Yeah, well," she said, ending her sentence at that.

"The apartment probably came with a fridge, huh? But your mom probably took the couch and the TV, so that must suck."

"Yeah. Really sucks."

"But without electricity, you wouldn't be able to use the fridge or TV anyway, so I guess that doesn't matter."

"Yeah."

"Who's the landlord?"

"Uh... Mayor Dewey." It was halfway true. Mayor Dewey owned the storage units.

"Right," Lars said. "So, uh, did you need any help moving anything else around? Or, um, company? First night in a new place is probably hard."

Did he really just invite himself over to keep her company and spend the first night in her pretend apartment? What did "company" mean, anyway? Did that mean what she thought it meant? Either way, it didn't matter because there was no way that she was inviting him over to a storage unit.

"I'm pretty much settled. Anyway, I'm pretty tired."

"Tired? You just slept like eight hours!"

"Yeah... I mean, it's pretty messy still. Maybe in a couple of days?" She immediately regretted saying that because she knew she would never have saved up enough to get out of there in only a few days. Maybe he would forget by then.

"Sure," he said, maybe with a little disappointment in his voice. Lars looked around the store. "I guess we're closing later than usual, but I think everything's done."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Is your phone done charging?"

She checked. "I think it's good enough."

"I guess we should get going then," he said. "Uh... hey, did you want me to at least walk you to the new apartment or anything?"

"No! No, it's alright. I'm fine." Sadie took a final look around the store, checked that the front door was locked, then locked the back door as they left. "Everything is fine. It's not that far. Besides, it's pretty much in the opposite direction that you're walking."

"Yeah, I guess. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then."

It felt weird to lie outright like that to Lars, but she knew she could never tell him what the real plan was. She would only be sleeping in the storage unit for a month or two until she could gather up enough money to move to a real apartment. Then there would be plenty of time for him to come over and keep her company, whatever that actually meant. Until then, she would just have to deal with it and save up all the money that she could.

As she walked down the boardwalk to the side of town with the storage units, she called her mother. "Hey, Mom... Yep, all settled in here... Yeah, it's pretty quiet... Yep, I guess they're asleep... No, it's alright... Yeah, I'll be sure to thank them again... Okay, well, you sound tired... Tell me how the new job goes... I love you. Goodnight."

Something felt strange, but Sadie shrugged it off as just feeling weird about spending the night somewhere that wasn't really meant to be lived in. She looked over her shoulders a few times, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Oh well. She unlocked the storage unit and tried to open the garage-style door as quietly as possible. Time for her first night alone in Beach City.


	6. Chapter 6: The Dark

A Roommate

Chapter 6: The Dark

As Sadie opened the large garage-style door to the storage unit, she wish she would have packed a few more flashlights. The light from the open door was enough to see by, but it was obvious that it would get very dark after closing it. She found the flashlight and a small battery-operated lantern she had left in the storage unit earlier in the day. It had originally seemed like these two things would be sufficient, but it Sadie could tell it would still be very dark inside. And scary.

She encountered another problem she hadn't thought of when she finally gathered up the courage to shut the storage unit door and enclose herself within the dark building. Storage units were meant to be locked from the outside, not the inside. She could push the door down and close it, but there would be no real way of locking it or keeping anyone out.

"It'll be okay for this one night," she told herself, talking aloud to make herself feel less alone. "I'll figure out a way to lock it tomorrow. It's okay for now."

She tried to calm herself down by thinking of other scary things she had done in the past. She had survived on a deserted island for about a week with Lars and Steven and had even fought (and defeated!) a gem monster by herself. She'd been swallowed up by a gem monster at the lighthouse and come out of it alive, thanks to her friends. In fact, she had held it together surprisingly well each time that something strange had happened in Beach City.

The difference was that she had always been with her friends when bad things had happened before. It was one thing to be brave with your friends, but it was another thing entirely to have to be brave while trying to fall asleep in a dark and unlocked storage unit.

Sadie fumbled her way into her pajamas in the dark, then crawled under the blankets on the bed, trying to get as comfortable as possible. "Everything's going to be okay. I need to get some rest so I'm not as tired for work tomorrow."

Suddenly, a deep growl came front outside of the storage unit. It sounded too low in pitch to be a cat. Maybe it could be a dog or even a skunk. Either way, she told herself, growling animals could not open doors. She was still safe.

There was a loud bang, then the storage unit door began to lift up. Obviously whatever kind of monster was on the other side had enough sense to be able to open a garage door. This monster was relatively smart and strong and angry and wanted inside. The door was opening too quickly for Sadie to hide anywhere, so she would just have to face it.

"Get out of here, whatever you are!"

"Get out of here, whatever you are!" the monster mimicked back in a high voice. "God, I really had you scared for a minute, huh?

Sadie's eyes were still adjusting to the moonlight that was now coming through the door, but she knew exactly who it was. "Lars, you are such a jerk!"

"See, I knew it! I _knew_ something was up. I _knew_ you didn't have an apartment," he gloated. He paused for a moment, his face falling as he looked around at all of her things in the storage unit. "Wait, you were actually going to live in here?"

It was too much for Sadie. She flopped back on the bed and began to cry. It was the kind of crying where no real words could escape her mouth, just sobs. The kind of ugly crying that people save up until there is nothing left to do.

"Hey, whoa, wait," Lars said, nervously patting her back. "I didn't mean to scare you. Well, I did, but..."

"What... am I going... to do?" Sadie choked out between her sobs.

"Hey, hey, nononono." He took her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. "No. Everything is still okay."

"It's not though! This was such a stupid idea. Why did I even stay?"

She knew why she had stayed though, and she knew the reason had something to do with Lars. Lars, who was still holding onto her shoulders. Lars, who was still looking at her with that concerned face that had replaced he usually indifferent one.

"It wasn't a stupid idea," he told her. "It was a great idea. And you're great. You're so..."

He trailed off, looking as though he knew of a million ways to finish that sentence and not being able to pick one. Instead, he leaned forward, still holding her awkwardly by the shoulders, and kissed her. It wasn't the kind of a kiss he had given her on the deserted island. It was soft and caring and over almost before Sadie had realized what had happened.

"Uh," he said, suddenly turning a deep shade of red. "It's just... It's really cool that you decided to stay in town."

"Yeah." Sadie was still reeling from the kiss, their second kiss.

"Do you want to go for a walk or something?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice."


End file.
